Kanye the First

‘Know what? If you’re a Kanye West fan, you’re not a fan of me - you’re a fan of yourself.’

Annie’s not really a fan of herself. But what if everyone thought she was someone else? Someone different. Someone better.

Sam Steiner’s Kanye the First is a dazzlingly funny and original drama about identity, guilt, contemporary culture and the second coming of Kanye West. It was first performed as part of HighTide Festival 2017, in a co-production between HighTide and Paul Jellis, in association with The Marlowe and The North Wall.

‘Audacious… a surreal and searching modern fable’
- The Stage

‘Cleverly undercuts our expectations and toys with ideas of shifting identity and how we construct and present ourselves to the world. The play also often hits the comic sweet spot… gives notice of the scale of Steiner’s ambition’
- Guardian

‘A self-aware drama about identity, empathy, privilege, celebrity and authenticity… audacious and amusing… Sam Steiner is a very clever young man, a veritable Sir Tom Stoppard in waiting’
- Time Out